How Businesses Can Use Snapchat

The Snapchat demographics are beginning to show signs of mainstream adoption, but many marketers are wringing their hands over how businesses can use Snapchat. As of this writing people over the age of 35 now account for 14% of the overall Snapchat user base, which represents a significant growth. The trend is most likely going to accelerate.

Snapchat is addictively engaging, and many marketers are scurrying to sort out how they can leverage the platform for growth. Retailers are toying with Snapchat to communicate to their customer and offer them exclusive deals. B2B marketers, on the other hand, are simply trying to figure out if B2B companies should use Snapchat.

The short answer for the B2B marketer asking if Snapchat is worth the time investment is yes.

But the reason behind the yes is more important than the answer. Consider it from this perspective; If you were told that there was a broadcast network that would have exposure to potentially thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of people that are in your target market or closely related to it you would most likely be interested in something like that. But if the access to that network were free you would be far more than a little interested; you would make it a priority to figure out how to capitalize on such a thing. This is exactly how B2B should consider Snapchat, an opportunity to create a media channel that can be any or all of the following; personal, informative, entertaining, and engaging.

But Snapchat can be a daunting platform to get comfortable with, so what should marketers consider when they prepare to have their business use Snapchat?

Consistency

Frequency

Consistency:  Everything about your Snapchat use should be consistent. The tone, the message, the topic, the intent. This is not to suggest that the structure should be rigid, but that the way in which you communicate should grow familiar to your audience. The goal for businesses using Snapchat should be to have their audience immediately know what they can expect when they see the company’s name (or the company’s employees name) in the Snapfeed.

Frequency: There is no way around getting better at Snapchat than by actually using Snapchat. The more you use it, the better you become. More importantly, a high level of frequency also helps to set the expectation of who you are and what you communicate over Snapchat.

Start with frequency and consistency before anything else. Doing so will help your company to get comfortable with the tool, and it will also spark plenty of ideas over how Snapchat can be used in just about every area of the business both internally and externally.

One last word before you dive into to your frequent and consistent use of Snapchat.

Keep it real.

Snapchat is addictive and engaging because it provides a somewhat raw and intimate opportunity to connect. Snap stories are not overly produced. This low-level production value is part of what makes Snapchat so compelling, and why it is successful at grabbing viewers attention.